Three National Consultants Voucher Examiner, Support to Payroll Management (SPM) project

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UNDP - United Nations Development Programme

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Kabul (Afghanistan)

Consultant

Application deadline 2 years ago: Sunday 29 Aug 2021 at 23:59 UTC

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Contract

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Details

Background

UNDP Global Mission Statement:

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience, and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP is on the ground in 166 countries, working with national counterparts on their own solutions to global and national development challenges.

UNDP Afghanistan Mission Statement:

UNDP supports stabilization, State-building, governance, and development priorities in Afghanistan. UNDP support, in partnership with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIROA), the United Nations system, the donor community and other development stakeholders, has contributed to institutional development efforts leading to positive impact on the lives of Afghan citizens. Over the years UNDP support has spanned such milestone efforts as the adoption of the Constitution; Presidential, Parliamentary and Provincial Council elections; institutional development through capacity-building to the legislative, the judicial and executive arms of the State, Ministries, Government agencies and commissions at the national and sub-national levels. UNDP has played a role in the management of the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA), which supports the Government in developing and maintaining the national police force and in efforts to stabilize the internal security environment. Major demobilization, disarmament and rehabilitation and area-based livelihoods and reconstruction programmes have taken place nationwide. UNDP Programmes in Afghanistan have benefited from the very active support of donors. UNDP Afghanistan is committed to the highest standards of transparency and accountability and works in close coordination with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN system to maximize the impact of its development efforts on the ground.

Organizational context:

UNDP Afghanistan’s Peace Pillar supports the Afghan Government in implementing its strategies for Governance, Rule of Law, etc., developing its institutional capacity and providing services to the Afghan population. This includes supporting the Ministry of Interior Affairs (MOIA) through the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA) Multi-Partner Trust Fund for Afghanistan (MPTF). Following wide consultations on the LOTFA Terms of Reference (TOR), UNDP, LOTFA Donors and the Government of Afghanistan (GIROA) agreed to revise the TOR to make it a Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF). The LOTFA Steering Committee meeting unanimously approved the TOR of the LOTFA on 25 November 2018. The new LOTFA TOR allows LOTFA funds to be channelled through the spectrum of the Rule of Law and Justice sectors via four distinct Windows: Police Payroll (SPM project), Justice Window, Security Window, and Anti-Corruption Window, making LOTFA more Flexible, Responsive, and Adaptable to serve the people of Afghanistan effectively and efficiently.

Support to Payroll Management Project (SPM)

The SPM project is a dedicated support to payroll management project – operating as a stand-alone Window under the new LOTFA MPTF – providing support to the MOIA staff from the General Directorate of Budget & Finance, HR and ICT departments to ensure timely payment of salaries and incentives to the Afghan National Police (ANP) and Central Prison Department (CPD) officers. The project is staffed with approximately 20 national staff and 3 international staff. The expected outcome of the SPM project is GIROA’s (i.e. MOIA) ability to independently manage all non-fiduciary aspects of payroll for the ANP and CPD, including producing relevant reports for donors in their specified formats. MOIA should also be able to manage the full range of functions related to payroll, i.e. human resources, accounting, and information and communication technology in a seamless manner.

The project is divided into 6 outputs as follows:

Output 1 ensures that updated policies implemented, business processes developed and applied to support independent MOIA payroll management.
Output 2 entails building the capacity of MOIA personnel (in Payroll, Human Resources, Finance, ITC etc.) to undertake all payroll processes and tasks to agreed standards.
Output 3 covers MOIA’s payroll systems update and reconciliation to support independent assurance work of the Monitoring Agent on the MOIA payroll expenditure and personnel headcount, which will also facilitate data migration from the current payroll system to the upcoming one.
Output 4 covers the provisions of the necessary infrastructure to support the full functionality of MOIA payroll systems during and after the transition of payroll management from the SPM project to the MOIA.
Output 5 is the core function of the SPM project as it entails the transfer of funds, on a timely and regular basis, to MOF for Police Pay.
Output 6 is the SPM Project management component which is to ensure that the rest of the outputs get implemented in accordance with the project document and in a timely, efficient, accountable, and effective manner.

Due to the implementation of the Afghan Personnel and Payroll System (APPS) which is being funded by the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A), to process the payrolls of the Afghan National Police (ANP) force, so many of the ANP personnel could not be slotted in time as a result of either technical or administrative challenges. As a consequence of this slow slotting of ANP personnel on APPS there has been a rise in the number of ANP personnel claiming back pays for periods that they have worked but could not be paid thus putting the SPM project team and the MOIA’s General Directorate of Finance and Budget (GD-F&B) under extreme pressure to clear the bag logs of back pay claims. Moreover, the LOTFA MPTF Steering Committee at its 5th May 2021 meeting approved a back-pay policy which requires that no ANP personnel can claim back pay for more than a 4-month ceiling in any given year, effective on 1st August 2021. This requires that all pending back pay claims are processed before this date to allow for a smooth implementation of the 4-month ceiling policy.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Position:

Under the overall supervision of the SPM project manager, and under the direct supervision of the Project Officer (Payroll Analysis), the Individual Consultant (Voucher Examiner) will provide technical assistance, primarily on reviewing requests for back pay of salaries to the MOIA’s ANP personnel and makes recommendations for certification, approval and processing of claims.

The Voucher Examiner will work in close collaboration and daily contacts with the project partners (MOIA) in implementation of all tasks and activities of the ToR. A key objective of this position is to receive, and expeditiously review, reconcile, and conclude the eligibility or otherwise of submitted back pay claims of MOIA’s ANP personnel. The results on the number of claims reviewed and classified as eligible and ineligible requests along with required justifications based on SOP, policies and laws constitute the main criteria of performance assessment for this position.

DURATION AND DELIVERABLES

The assignment is expected to start on 1 August 2021 and be completed by 31 December 2021. The table below outlines the number of working days that are allocated to the Consultant to carry out the assignment. In order to fulfil required tasks for the development of deliverables as defined and listed in the table below, the estimated number of days to be invested are also provided. The number of days presented as ‘estimated number of working days to be invested’ is indicative. The IC may invest less/more than the estimated number of working days and finalize the respective deliverable. The payment for each deliverable will be made on the basis of the actual number of days invested for that respective deliverable; however, the overall number of days to be invested for all deliverables cannot exceed 110 working days throughout the contract validity. The deliverables expected from the IC are as follows:

No.

Activity

Deliverable

Estimated No. of Working/ Days to be Invested

Target Date for Submission to UNDP/SPM project

Check and review back-pay request documents based on Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), Police Inherent Law to conclude the number days due for back pay.
Report all requests lacking required supporting documents or ineligible claims explaining the reasons to SPM management to be communicated with MOIA.
Compile eligible back-pay claims, submit for certification and approval of SPM management
Identify key lessons learned, identify key internal controls weaknesses, and/or areas of improvement of back-pay process to MOIA and SPM management
Monthly report summarising key tasks; documenting number of back-pay claimed checked; number of back-pay claims not eligible; and identifying key lesson learned and recommended action to improve the back-pay process by MOIA and SPM project.

22 working days / 20%

31 August 2021

Check and review back-pay request documents based on Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), Police Inherent Law to conclude the number days due for back pay.
Report all requests lacking required supporting documents or ineligible claims explaining the reasons to SPM management to be communicated with MOIA.
Compile eligible back-pay claims, submit for certification and approval of SPM management
Identify key lessons learned, identify key internal controls weaknesses, and/or areas of improvement of back-pay process to MOIA and SPM management

Monthly report summarising key tasks; documenting number of back-pay claimed checked; number of back-pay claims not eligible; and identifying key lesson learned and recommended action to improve the back-pay process by MOIA and SPM project.

22 working days/20%

30 September 2021

Check and review back-pay request documents based on Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), Police Inherent Law to conclude the number days due for back pay.
Report all requests lacking required supporting documents or ineligible claims explaining the reasons to SPM management to be communicated with MOIA.
Compile eligible back-pay claims, submit for certification and approval of SPM management
Identify key lessons learned, identify key internal controls weaknesses, and/or areas of improvement of back-pay process to MOIA and SPM management

22 working days/20%

31 October 2021

Check and review back-pay request documents based on Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), Police Inherent Law to conclude the number days due for back pay.
Report all requests lacking required supporting documents or ineligible claims explaining the reasons to SPM management to be communicated with MOIA.
Compile eligible back-pay claims, submit for certification and approval of SPM management
Identify key lessons learned, identify key internal controls weaknesses, and/or areas of improvement of back-pay process to MOIA and SPM management

22 working days/20%

30 November 2021

Check and review back-pay request documents based on Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), Police Inherent Law to conclude the number days due for back pay.
Report all requests lacking required supporting documents or ineligible claims explaining the reasons to SPM management to be communicated with MOIA.
Compile eligible back-pay claims, submit for certification and approval of SPM management
Identify key lessons learned, identify key internal controls weaknesses, and/or areas of improvement of back-pay process to MOIA and SPM management

22 working days/20%

31 December 2021

ESTIMATED TOTAL

110 working days

Dates may be changed according to contract start date

Institutional Arrangements:

Duty Station: Kabul

Competencies

Core competencies:

Promotes ethics and integrity and creates organizational precedents
Builds support and political acumen
Builds staff competence and creates an environment of creativity and innovation
Builds and promotes effective teams
Creates and promotes environment for open communications
Leverages conflict in the interest of UNDP and sets standards
Shares knowledge across the organization and builds a culture of knowledge sharing and learning.

Required Skills and Experience

REQUIREMENTS FOR EXPERTISE & EXPERIENCE Academic Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, or related field, preferably with specialized certification in Audit, Accounting and Finance or a professional accounting qualification from an internationally recognized institute of accountancy.

Required experience:

Bachelor’s degree with at least 5 years of relevant experience in providing audit, financial management services.
Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems and ERP financials is required
Background in auditing is required.
Experience in UN organization will be an asset.
Experience in audit and finance of government organizations will be an asset.

Language:

Excellent written and oral English skills a requirement
Fluency in Dari and or Pashtu is required.

PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal. The consultant shall then submit a price proposal when requested by UNDP, in accordance with the below:

Daily Fee – The contractor shall propose a daily fee, which should be inclusive of her/his professional fee, local communication cost and insurance (inclusive of medical health insurance and evacuation). The number of working days for which the daily fee shall be payable under the contract is 110 working days.
The total professional fee shall be converted into a lump-sum contract and payments under the contract shall be made on submission and acceptance of deliverables under the contract in accordance with the schedule of payment linked with deliverables and at the end of the assignment. Payments will be made at the end of the assignment.

UNDP reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or there is a failure to meet agreed-to deadlines.

Evaluation Method and Criteria:

Individual consultant will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight 70% * Financial Criteria weight 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Criteria 1: Academic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, or related field, preferably with specialized certification in Audit, Accounting and Finance or a professional accounting qualification from an internationally recognized institute of accountancy. 20 points.
Criteria 2: Bachelor’s degree with at least 5 years of relevant experience in providing audit, financial management services. 20 points
Criteria 3: Experience working with the UN and/or with multi-stakeholders: governments, NGOs, reputable firms. 30 points.

Financial Evaluation (30%):

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

p = y (µ/z), where p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal µ = price of the lowest-priced proposal z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested national Consultant must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment—maximum one page;

All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNDP Afghanistan. UNDP Afghanistan will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

Annex 1 - IC Contract Template (for information);
Annex 2 - Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP (to be completed at later stage upon request by UNDP);
Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions (for information);
Annex 4 – RLA Template (if consultant wishes to be recruited through an employer) - (for information).